Влияние на византийското законодателство върху старобългарското брачно право
The Influence of Byzantine Legislation on Old-Bulgarian Marriage Law

Summary/Abstract: The historical conditions in which Mediaeval Bulgaria developed from the middle of the 9th century put her in close relationship with Byzantium and the achievements of its centuries old multinational culture. The formation of the Old-Bulgarian culture began with the conversion to Christianity: it was modelled after the Byzantine one and adopted the Byzantine religious principles and norms. The Byzantine models were, however, adapted to the conditions specific for Bulgaria. The influence and interactions between the centre of the new world outlook and the periphery, activated by the acceptance of Christianity in Bulgaria, were many-sided and involved all the aspects of the life of society. This article focuses the attention on one of these aspects: marriage law. The forms and methods of concluding marriage, characteristic of Bulgarian customary law and written legislation, drafted on the model of the Byzantine one, are compared. The conclusion is that the Church and the State in mediaeval Bulgaria tried not only to consolidate the new but also to connect and intertwine it with the old when this old was not at variance with the basic Christian principles.

• Details
• Contents